Satellite aided location tracking with user interface

ABSTRACT

A satellite aided location tracking and data services with user interface. A graphical user interface is provided that enables users to monitor the status of movable assets. Detailed information in a position history enables the user to obtain status information (e.g., starts and stops) at each position report. This status information promotes visibility into the journey of each movable asset.

This application is a continuation of non-provisional application Ser.No. 13/234,757, filed Sep. 16, 2011, which is a continuation ofnon-provisional application Ser. No. 11/741,236, filed Apr. 27, 2007(Now U.S. Pat. No. 8,058,987), which claims priority to provisionalapplication Ser. No. 60/797,358, filed May 4, 2006. Each of theabove-identified applications is incorporated by reference herein, inits entirety, for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to monitoring and tracking and,more particularly, to a satellite aided location tracking and dataservices with user interface.

2. Introduction

Tracking mobile assets represents a growing enterprise as companies seekincreased visibility into the status of movable assets (e.g., trailers,containers, etc.). Visibility into the status of movable assets can begained through mobile terminals that are affixed to the assets. Thesemobile terminals can be designed to generate position information thatcan be used to update status reports that are provided to customerrepresentatives.

Mobile terminals can report this position information to a centralizedlocation via a wireless communication network such as a satellitecommunication network. In general, satellite communication networksprovide excellent monitoring capabilities due to their wide-rangingcoverage, which can span large sections of a continent. What is needed,however, is a mechanism for enabling an enterprise to effectively trackthe status of the movable assets in the field.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not thereforeto be considered limiting of its scope, the invention will be describedand explained with additional specificity and detail through the use ofthe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite network in communicationwith a mobile terminal on an asset.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a user interface for configuring aperimeter.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a graphical user interface illustratinga position history for an asset.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a user interface for searching foran asset.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a user interface illustrating a tabularlisting of a position history for an asset.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of an asset tracking system thatincludes operations gateway 102, communicating with mobile terminal 120on an asset. As would be appreciated, an asset can be embodied invarious forms such as a trailer, a railcar, a shipping container, or thelike. Communication between operations gateway 102 and mobile terminal120 is facilitated by satellite gateway 104 at the ground station andsatellite modem 122 in mobile terminal 120. Both satellite gateway 104and satellite modem 122 facilitate communication using one forward andone return link (frequency) over communications satellite 106.

In one embodiment, the satellite communication is implemented in a timedivision multiple access (TDMA) structure, which consists of 57600 timeslots each day, per frequency or link, where each slot is 1.5 secondslong. On the forward link, operations gateway 102 sends a message orpacket to mobile terminal 120 on one of the 1.5 second slots. Uponreceipt of this message or packet, mobile terminal 120 would thenperform a GPS collection (e.g., code phase measurements) using globallocating system (GLS) module 124 or to perform sensor measurements andtransmit the data back to operations gateway 102 on the return link, onthe same slot, delayed by a fixed time defined by the network. In oneembodiment, the fixed delay defines a length of time that enables mobileterminal 120 to decode the forward packet, perform the data collectionand processing, and build and transmit the return packet.

In one embodiment, mobile terminal 120 can be configured to produceperiodic status reports. In this configuration, mobile terminal 120would wake up periodically, search for its assigned forward slot,perform data collection and processing, and transmit the status reporton the assigned return slot. In another embodiment, mobile terminal 120can be configured to produce a status report upon an occurrence of anevent (e.g., door opening, motion detected, sensor reading, etc.). Inthis configuration, mobile terminal 120 would wake up upon occurrence ofan event, search for an available forward slot, perform data collectionand processing, and transmit the status report on the return slotcorresponding to the identified available forward slot.

Upon receipt of a status report from mobile terminal 120, operationsgateway 102 passes the information to operations center 112. Operationscenter 112 can then use the received GPS collection to calculate aposition solution. This position solution along with any other statusinformation (both current and historical) can be passed to a customervia the Internet. A detailed description of this communications processis provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,158, entitled “System and Method forFast Acquisition Position Reporting Using Communication Satellite RangeMeasurement,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In one embodiment, mobile terminal 120 can also collect sensormeasurements from sensors that are positioned at various points on theasset being tracked. In meeting the demand by customers for greatervisibility into the status of assets, various sensor types can be used.For example, volume sensors, temperature sensors, chemical sensors,radiation sensors, weight sensors, light sensors, water sensors, truckcab ID indicators, odometer sensors, wheel sensors, etc. can be used toreport the condition of cargo being transported, an environment of theasset, a condition of a service vehicle, etc. In general, these varioussensors can be used to report status information or the occurrence ofany events at the service vehicle to the mobile terminal fortransmission to the centralized facility. The position information alongwith any sensor information can then be reported to the centralizedfacility periodically, upon request, or upon an occurrence of a detectedevent at the asset location.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, one of the sensors that can be used isadaptive motion sensor 126, which enables motion-activated locationtracking In general, adaptive motion sensor 126 determines whether anasset is moving or not. Together with the mobile terminal processor andGLS 124, adaptive motion sensor 126 can determine the arrival anddeparture times of an asset. When an asset begins to move, adaptivemotion sensor 126 detects the motion by measuring vibration signals.Adaptive motion sensor 126 then sends a signal to the mobile terminalprocessor informing it that motion has started. The mobile terminalprocessor then records the time motion started, and signals to GLS 124to collect code phase measurements.

The start time and the codephase measurements are sent over thesatellite back to the operations center 124 where the codephasemeasurements are used to solve for a geographical position, and thestart time is used to generate the departure time. Conversely, whenadaptive motion sensor 126 determines motion has stopped it will againinform the mobile terminal processor to collect time and codephasemeasurements, and send the information back to operations center 112.Operations center 112 then solves for position, and the stop time isused to generate the arrival time. The arrival and departure times alongwith their associated geographical locations can be supplied to the uservia the Internet.

In the motion-activated location tracking, adaptive motion sensor 126has a layer of filtering that is capable of filtering out unwantedstarts and stops and only transmits true arrival and departureinformation. Adaptive motion sensor 126 can be configured to onlytransmit starts or stops when the change in motion is maintained for aconfigurable percentage of time. In this manner, only accurate arrivaland departure time information is transmitted using the mobile terminalwith the adaptive motion sensor. This layer of filtering saves onunwanted transmissions, and hence power, bandwidth, and cost.

The mobile terminal can be configured to transmit a position reportafter the actual arrival or departure times when the motion sensor hasreached its “no-motion” or “motion” times, respectively. The “motion”and “no-motion” times can be separately configurable, for example, fromone minute up to two hours. For example, if the “motion” time is set at15 minutes, then the mobile terminal will only transmit departure timeinformation at the expiration of the 15-minute “motion” time periodshould the motion condition be valid for greater than a configurablepercentage of time. This configurability can be used to allow more timeto exit an area of interest, or allow more time at rest stops along theway. Once the motion sensor has determined that the mobile terminal hasentered a “motion” state, the mobile terminal can then be configured totransmit status reports periodically (e.g., once every×minutes/hours).

The user-configurable “motion sensitivity” can be implemented as thepercentage of time the asset needs to remain in motion during the“motion time” to signal motion. This is useful, for example, inmaintaining a motion condition while stopped at a traffic light or arest stop. Conversely, the user-configurable “no-motion sensitivity” canbe implemented as the percentage of time the asset needs to remain inno-motion during the “no-motion” time to signal no-motion. This isuseful, for example, in maintaining a no-motion condition while moving atrailer within a yard. The motion-activated location tracking isdescribed in greater detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/377,653, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

In accordance with the present invention, reporting in themotion-activated location tracking system can be event driven. Variousalerts can be configured by the user using a web interface. In oneexample, an alert can be specified by an identification of an alert typeand an action. Examples of alert types include (1) a binary sensor alertthat is produced, for example, upon the opening of a trailer door or viaa panic switch; (2) a cargo alert that is produced upon detection of aparticular trailer volume status (e.g., empty or full); (3) a departurealert that is produced upon a first determination that a calculatedmobile terminal position occurs outside of a departure point perimeter;and (4) a destination arrival alert that is produced upon thedetermination that a calculated mobile terminal position associated witha “no-motion” event occurs inside of a destination point perimeter. Eachof these alerts can be triggered based on sensor information. Oneexample of an action to be taken upon triggering of an alert is theinitiation of the transmission of a report (e.g., email or telephonenotification) to a user.

In one embodiment, a web interface is used to enable a user to configurea departure point perimeter or a destination point perimeter. Oneexample of such a user interface is illustrated in FIG. 2. In this userinterface, the user can specify a perimeter using a circle radius arounda point such as a landmark, a city/town, or a particularlatitude/longitude position. In this example, the user has specified an8-mile perimeter around the city of Charles Town, W. Va. In anotherembodiment, the web interface can be used to enable the user to identifya perimeter graphically. As would be appreciated, various perimetershapes can be used. For example, a user can specify a multi-sidedpolygon that connects user defined perimeter points. Once the perimeteris established, the area defined by the perimeter can be associated witha location (e.g., arrival and/or departure point).

If an arrival point is specified, then the perimeter defines an arrivallocation. This arrival location can then be used as a trigger of a useralert. In one embodiment, the system can determine whether ageographical location calculated using the code phase measurements in amobile terminal position report (e.g., “no-motion” position report) islocated within a defined arrival location. If the calculatedgeographical position is determined to be inside of the arrivallocation, then an alert can be issued to a user informing the user thatthe vehicle has arrived at that particular arrival location.

If a departure point is specified, then the perimeter defines adeparture location. Here, the system can determine whether ageographical location calculated using the code phase measurements in amobile terminal “motion” position report is located outside a defineddeparture location. If the calculated geographical position isdetermined to be outside of the departure location, then an alert can beissued to a user informing the user that the vehicle has left theparticular departure location.

As would be appreciated, a particular location can be specified as bothan arrival location and a destination location. This scenario isillustrated in the example of FIG. 3. Here, the user can specify CharlesTown, W. Va. as an arrival and destination location. The system can thentrack when the asset is located within the defined perimeter and whenthe asset departs the defined perimeter. This dual specification may beappropriate if the user is tracking a vehicle at some type ofintermediate destination.

In one embodiment, various web pages can be used to enable thegeneration of asset reports. An example of such a user interface isillustrated in FIG. 4. In this asset based search interface, reports canbe generated based on one or more searchable criteria such as asset ID,mobile terminal serial number, and user-defined groups. The query canalso include the specification of the latest position and a positionhistory. In another example, the search can be based on distance and/ortime proximity to particular locations such as landmarks, city/towns, orparticular latitude/longitude coordinates. In yet another example, thesearch can be based on an event, status (e.g., moving, stopped, etc.),asset type (e.g., truck, car, railcar, etc.), time period, etc. Ingeneral, the various searchable criteria would enable the user toinventory the assets that are being tracked.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, position reports can include street-leveldetail. These position reports can be specified to show the currentlocation or position history for one or more assets being tracked. Ingeneral, the principles of the present invention enable the generationof reports for tracking multiple assets by showing a distribution ofassets by location (e.g., state, city/town, user-defined location, etc.)in graphical, table or other organized form.

An example of a table report is illustrated in FIG. 5. As illustrated,each row of the example table report is associated with a positionreport. These position reports are numerically identified in column 510with numerical identifiers that are correlated to the graphical displayin FIG. 3. In this manner, the user can quickly gain visibility into thedetails for each position in the position history.

One of the details that can be provided is the status informationincluded in row 530. In the example of FIG. 5, the status information isdesigned to provide detailed information regarding the movement ornon-movement of the asset. Consider first the position report detailedby the row having ID 7 in column 510. This position report has a listedstatus in row 530 of “Start”. More specifically, column 540 indicatesthe time of reading (2:30:45 PM), which is distinct from the time ofobservation (2:54:40 PM) at column 520. This difference is attributableto the “motion” time period that has been configured for the asset. Asnoted above, a first detection of movement by the adaptive motion sensorwill trigger a collection of position measurements. If the asset remainsin a motion condition for greater than a percentage of time for the“motion” time period, then the mobile terminal will report the motionevent, including the time motion was first detected. This distinctionbetween measurement time and reported time is reflected by columns 540and 520, respectively. It is a feature of the present invention that thetime of a true start event can be displayed without the noise of allstarts/stops experienced by the asset.

If the asset maintains a motion condition, then the status of the assetin column 530 can be listed as “Moving”. This condition can bemaintained even though the asset makes various incidental stops (e.g.,traffic lights). These incidental stops are filtered out due to thefailure to remain stopped for greater than a percentage of time in a “nomotion” time period. As illustrated in the graphical display of FIG. 3,the first instance of a position report (ID 8) outside of a defineddeparture point perimeter can trigger a departure alert.

In the current example, the asset maintains a “Moving” status until theposition report at ID 18, which has a status of “Stop”. Again, the timeof reading (4:11:15 PM) at column 540 is distinct from the time ofobservation (4:21:24 PM) at column 520. In this case, the stoppedcondition is maintained for only a short period of time, such as a reststop along the way to the final destination. This is seen by theposition report at ID 20, which as a status of “Start”. Here, the timeof reading is 4:23:30 PM, only 12 minutes 15 seconds after the vehiclestopped. From this intermediate stop, the asset continues to its finaldestination as indicated by the position report of ID 24.

As has been described, the reporting mechanisms of the present inventionenable an enterprise to accurately monitor and track the exact lengthsof time that an asset is in a stopped or moving state. This granularityin report detail can be critical to accurately attributing the variouscosts that are associated with asset transport.

It should also be noted that the report illustrated in the example ofFIG. 5 is not limited to event information associated with a motionsensor. Other event information generated by other sensors can also beincluded in the report. For example, the readings of a temperaturesensor can be included in a separate column to track the interiortemperature of a refrigerated trailer. This would enable the carrier toverify that the proper environment condition within the trailer has beenmet throughout the asset transport. Any variances in the measuredtemperature can also be included in the report.

These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art by a review of the preceding detaileddescription. Although a number of salient features of the presentinvention have been described above, the invention is capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways thatwould be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading thedisclosed invention, therefore the above description should not beconsidered to be exclusive of these other embodiments. Also, it is to beunderstood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are forthe purposes of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving first user inputthat is specified in a first user interface, wherein said first userinput enables definition of a perimeter associated with a departurelocation; receiving, via a communications network, a motion positionreport from an asset, said motion position report being transmitted whenit is determined that said asset has achieved a moving condition, saidmoving condition being determined based on an analysis of a firstnon-zero amount of time that said asset is moving as compared to asecond non-zero amount of time that said asset is stationary; andinitiating a transmission of a notification message to a user that saidasset has departed said departure location after receipt of said motionposition report from said asset.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein saidfirst user input defines a circular perimeter.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein said first user input defines a polygon shaped perimeter.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said first user input is received via a webinterface.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said motion position reportincludes position information.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein saidposition information is GPS code phase measurements.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising determining whether a determined position ofsaid asset is outside of said perimeter associated with said departurelocation.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting aposition history of said asset via a web interface, said positionhistory including a departure event associated with a time of dayindication included in said motion position report.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said moving condition is based on a determination thatsaid first non-zero amount of time is greater than said second non-zeroamount of time by a threshold amount.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid first non-zero amount of time and said second non-zero amount oftime are measured during the same predefined time period.
 11. The methodof claim 1, wherein said notification message is sent via email.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said notification message is sent viatelephone.
 13. A method, comprising: transmitting first information thatenables a user device to display a first user interface, said first userinterface enabling a user to enter first user input that enables anidentification of an asset; and transmitting second information thatenables a user device to display a position history of said asset, saidposition history including a plurality of positions of said asset,wherein a first of said plurality of positions has an associatedindication that said asset has departed, wherein said associatedindication that said asset has departed is based on an analysis during apredefined time period of a first non-zero amount of time that saidasset is moving and a second non-zero amount of time that said asset isstationary.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said moving condition isbased on a determination that said first non-zero amount of time isgreater than said second non-zero amount of time by a threshold amount.15. The method of claim 13, wherein said position history is a listingof a plurality of positions from a departure location to a destinationlocation.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising transmittingthird information that enables a user device to display a second userinterface for obtaining second user input, wherein said second userinput enables definition of a perimeter associated with a departurelocation.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein said first user interfaceis a web interface.